PRINCETON, N.J. – The University of Pennsylvania men's basketball team gave Princeton a scare on Saturday in front of a sellout crowd at Jadwin Gym, but a scoring drought came at the wrong time as the Tigers emerged with a 77-70 win.
 
Penn was down just 62-61 when Sam Brown found Nick Spinoso with a nice pass underneath for a reverse layup with 7:21 left. However, the Quakers went scoreless over the next 3:30 and the Tigers took advantage with a 10-0 run to seal the win.
 
Penn fell to 9-13 overall and is 1-6 in Ivy League play. Princeton improved to 17-3 overall and is 5-2 in Ivy play.
 
Quaker Notemeal
*Penn outrebounded Princeton, 37-30, and committed just eight turnovers in the loss.
 
*Penn shot 15-of-17 from the foul line, a season-best 88.2 percent.
 
*Junior Nick Spinoso posted his fourth double-double of the season with 19 points and a career-high 14 rebounds.
 
*Freshman Tyler Perkins scored 14 points, grabbed five rebounds and added two assists.
 
*Senior Clark Slajchert saw his first action since an early injury at Houston on December 30, getting the start and finishing with 10 points, six rebounds (which tied his season high) and three assists.
 
*Freshman Sam Brown matched Slajchert in points and assists and had two rebounds.
 
*Junior George Smith had his third straight eight-point game; prior to this three-game stretch, he hadn't had eight points in a game since going for 10 against Monmouth on November 26.
 
*Princeton had two players finish with double-doubles on Saturday, as Caden Pierce had 17 points and 11 rebounds and Xaivian Lee recorded a game-high 22 points and 10 boards. Lee also had five assists. Zach Martini had 15 points, all on three-pointers, and Blake Peters added 12.

How It Happened
Penn came out hot on Saturday, scoring on six of its first nine possessions and taking a 14-10 lead into the first media timeout. Out of that stoppage, Brown hit a trio of foul shots to up the lead to 17-10. Princeton used a 7-0 run to turn a 19-13 deficit into a 20-19 advantage, Tiger senior Matt Allocco stepping into a trey to give his team their first lead and forcing a Penn timeout.
 
Princeton's lead was 32-25, but Perkins sent a long pass to Spinoso for a dunk and then Reese McMullen drained a triple from the left wing. That got the margin back to two, 32-30, and Princeton was using a timeout. Out of the under-4 media, freshman Niklas Polonowski made good from distance to put Penn back in front, 33-32. That was followed by a Smith trey, making it 36-32, and Penn's lead was 40-36 at the half.
 
Spinoso scored a quick hoop to open the second-half scoring, but Princeton scored the next seven points as Penn went scoreless for 3:34. A Slajchert bucket ended the skid and Penn still led at the first media, 44-43.
 
It was 46-46 when Martini hit a three and Pierce followed with a dunk. Princeton's lead was still 53-50 at the under-12 timeout, but Perkins made four free throws across the Quakers' next two possessions to put them back in front, 54-53. Another Martini trey was followed by a Slajchert bucket, and then Martini and Perkins traded triples to get the score to 59-59. Peters then made good from distance, followed by Spinoso's bucket off the Brown feed to make it 62-61 at the under-8 timeout.
 
Out of the stoppage, Allocco hit from distance and then—after a Slajchert miss from beyond the arc—the senior posted up Brown and got free throws. He made the first for a 66-61 lead.
 
Another Peters trey made it 69-61, and then the killer came after another empty Penn possession—Princeton missed two shots, got the offensive rebound both times, and the third try was the charm as Peters got an open look from distance and was true. That made it 72-61 and Penn was taking a timeout.
 
Spinoso got Penn back within seven, hitting a righty layup and the a pair of foul shots on the Quakers' next two possessions. Penn then had two more chances to cut into the lead but couldn't find the mark, and instead Allocco converted a jumper to get the margin back to nine as the clock went inside a minute.
 
Penn got as close as 74-70 on a Perkins triple with 12 seconds left, but Princeton made their free throws and the Quakers' last few efforts were front-rimmed.
 
Up Next
Penn is home for the first time in four weeks next weekend, hosting Ivy League leader Yale on Friday night (7 p.m. tipoff) and Brown on Saturday (6 p.m.).
 
For the latest on Penn men's basketball, follow @PennMBB on X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram, and on the web at PennAthletics.com.